During class Thursday we split into groups and picked a game concept that we would like to make into a game. There were two catches though, the first being that we will create this game as if we are creating it for the mobile marketplace. The second catch was that we had to choose from 8 different game concepts that our overlord Marty Clayton had come up with.
There where several different concepts to choose from, some where based off a genre, others off an existing game, and one extremely weird concept for a balloon cargo game (best of luck to that group). In the end I ended up picking 'Ramparts'. When I picked Ramparts I had no idea what the original game was, but I know that ramparts is a defensive wall of a castle, and castles are kinda cool. So assuming that you also have never heard of 'Ramparts' here are two videos one showing the singleplayer and core gameplay, the other showing the multiplayer game mode.
Singleplayer:
Multiplayer:
Its a fun little game, but one that was released before I was born, and since I am not much of a retro gamer I have never played it. While my group does consist of some pretty cool kids, it turns out that none of us are really retro gamers, and only one of us had ever heard of it. So being the brash kids that we are watched a minute of gameplay and then immediately started brainstorming. During our brainstorming session Marty graced us with his wisdom and reminded us that our group was more likely than any other group to want to remake the original game, and that we shouldn't be doing a remake we should instead do something completely different. After taking note of Marty's wisdom and 30 more minutes of brainstorming we decided to split for the day. Everyone would come up with 3 concepts that we would then pitch to the rest of the group, at which point we would pick our favorite idea and run with it.
Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, I am at work and decide that it as a good of a time as any to start tossing around game ideas in my head (hell why not, I have to be there for 10 hours, might as well multitask for some portion of my shift.) Even though I was still not 100% sure what 'Ramparts' was, I knew that I wanted my 3 concepts to be something completely different from the game that we had brainstormed ideas for in class.
Each of the concepts I came up with has both positive and negatives to it, much like any idea. I can say for sure though, that my 3 concepts are nothing like 'Ramparts'. I decided that it would be okay to change the gameplay as long as the game revolved around a castle of some kind.
Concept #1:
Metroid/Castlevania like game.
Why: I have always wanted to make a metriod style game, they are extremely fun, and the world is so in depth and detailed.
Positives:
+A actual full game.
Negatives:
-A lot of work, as in too much work.
-This is the wrong kind of game for the mobile marketplace, a marketplace based on pickup and play for 5 minutes at a time, not sit down and play for several hours til completion.
-The touch interface will result in abysmal controls for a game like this.
Concept #2:
Hack n Slash
Why: During class we were talking about a defend the castle against hordes of enemies kind of game, I decide why not turn that around. Make the castle like a transformer, and instead of having to protect the castle, the castle goes out into the battle and kills everything hack and slash style.
Positives:
+The kind of concept that is completely different from what the original game was.
+Hack n Slash is a more viable gametype for the portable medium as it is mindless killing with no story.
Negatives:
-however, if there is any kind of progression in game, then it still won't work very well as a pick up and play for 5 minutes.
-The game will either be very repetitive, or will take a large amount of assets to have any kind of variation in environment/enemies.
-controls can still be muddy since this is an action game on a mobile platform.
Concept #3:
DOTA style game
Why: much more interesting than the basic defend your castle. We talked about a DOTA like game in class, but I think we should change it so that rather than having the user directly control their hero(s) the hero(s) will sit in the castle and their powers can be cast down on the field to change the battle. This will add some depth to the game without making it an action game that the player has to control in real time using a touch screen.
Positives:
+The only controls are clicking and scrolling, so the controls are simple and viable to use on a mobile device.
+Not as many art assets are required for this game.
+A game that can we can make as deep strategic wise as we want too.
Negatives:
-Still misses the casual market.
-Will have to deal with either AI or Networking for the game to work.
Obviously these ideas aren't fully formed, and still have to be fleshed out. But they are a couple of ideas that are very different from the first game, and are concepts that I think would be fun to make. It just depends on whether my teammates agree with me and if we have enough time.
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